The Ultimate Dare
by Schizoid7Loner
Summary: How is it that everytime Crona does something normal, it goes terribly horribly wrong? Crona plays a game of truth and dare, and what does she get dared to do?...Contains KidxFem!Crona as well as very slight MakaxSoul.
1. The Ultimate Dare

**A/N: So, it's summer break. Which connotes that I have free time! I am most certainly going to milk this for everything it's worth (in other words, you can certainly be expecting a multitude of Kid and Crona fan fiction). Alright then, this story contains KidxCrona and very slight MakaxSoul. The words in italics are meant to be Crona's thoughts by the way. Hopefully you all have fun reading this, and keep I mind that this story is pure KidxCrona fluff, not meant to me taken seriously or to be particularly good in terms of plot (just saying because the theme is kind of clichéd, sorry ^_^).**

**Warning!: The following fan fiction does not represent my usual style, I am experimenting with a style that can be found in most young adult series (picture Percy Jackson and….well, I suppose the sister's Grimm). So I apologize in advance if it sounds somewhat awkward at first…then again I tend to sound awkward as a general unspoken rule….oh well, disregard everything I have just aforementioned. **

**2****nd**** A/N: Going back to my previous author's note, since I have a lot of time I have decided to practice with this style and a couple of others a little by writing a collection of KidxCrona one shots. I need to refine my writing and this seems like the perfect opportunity to do so. That and I would very much like to help the Kid and Crona community (if I may call it that) grow, so I have made it my personal goal to get this portion of the Soul Eater fan fiction archive up to about 16 or at least close to 17 pages (I am excluding the M rated stories and including the stories that have been written in different languages)…..Feel free to think of this as Kid and Crona 3 months awareness *grins*. If anyone would like to join the cause don't hesitate to Private Message me, **

**I'm going to shut up now. And without further ado I present the reader with another Kid and Crona story**

**P.S: Fair warning, Crona is a female in this fan fiction.**

* * *

Crona is not sure how Maka managed to talk her into this but one things for sure…This has got to be, by far, the stupidest things she's ever done. Right next to the pickle incident.

Crona sat in a room full of seven teens, approximately fourteen eyes trained on her person.

Well, ok 13, Black Star's left eye still hasn't actually healed from Soul's previous dare….she really hadn't expected Black Star to actually go through with it and run head first into the door blind folded.

"COME ON CRONA TRUTH OR DARE! YOUR GOD DEMANDS AN ANSWER!" Black Star bellowed from his place on the floor before Maka promptly socked him.

"Black Star!…..give her some time, she's probably still in shock from having the bad luck to get picked by you." Maka angrily stated through gritted teeth.

Bad luck? Oh man….she did not know how she was supposed to deal with this….

" Oh right, sorry….wh-, HEY!" Black Star angrily said back finally understanding Maka's statement. Crona visibly cringed at this….please don' let them start arguing, that's another thing she didn't know how to deal with.

"Settle down you two, your making Crona uncomfortable." Kid said breaking up the argument that had been threatening to start. His honey colored eyes turned to her a smile stretching across his face as he opened his mouth once more to say "which one would you like?"

Crona did everything in her power to beat down the blush that was threatening to break out across her face, '_Thank you Kid' _Crona inwardly whispered, in her head, where nobody could hear her.

The young shinigami sat cross legged across from her eyes trained on her figure as she lowered her head to avoid his eyes, yet another reason she did not want to play this game…she had witnessed the horrible things all the others had been forced to say or do, it was all so humiliating! A-and completely foolish a-an-d…

She didn't want to make a fool out of herself in front of Death the Kid…

Nobody actually knew that Crona had a crush on the reaper, she hadn't told Ragnorak or anyone else in the group, and especially not Maka.

Maka was a good friend, but something told Crona that telling the young scythe meister her feelings for Lord Death's son would only spur her to find a way to make Crona confess said feelings.

"So, Crona, what's it going to be? Truth or dare?" Liz casually asked a sly smirk painted on her face as she leaned back folding her arms behind her.

Oh man…..

Which was it going to be?

On the one hand, selecting truth would possibly lead to awkward and embarrassing questions about her gender or god knows what else she did not feel comfortable talking about…she'd probably end up saying something along the lines of 'I pass', or something else equally indefinite.

But on the other hand….if she chose dare….she would end up having to do something _else_ potentially humiliating…like running throughout the house stark naked…(Soul….that poor, poor bastard…).

Holy shi-, cow. She did not know how to deal with this….

…..

…..

OH GOD HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS!

"Woo-hooooo….earth to Crona…." Soul said waving a hand in front of her face, apparently her face had distorted into her usual panicked spaced out expression.

So much for pretending to deal with this.

"I-I-I-I-, I-I- d-don't really know which o-ne t-to pick…." She said nervously as she looked down at her lap, avoiding everyone's eyes, avoiding _his_ gaze.

"No biggy Crona! Just do what I did! Eeenie, meenie, miniee, moe! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Patty offered laughing hysterically

Yes, that's it! She couldn't deal with picking one, but this way she wouldn't have to!

"Yeah, you could probably do that." Tsubaki said smiling sweetly at her. "pretend your left hand is truth and your right is dare!"

Yes, she could probably manage to do this. No decisions, no worrying that she had made the wrong choice, no stressing out over picking….she could deal with this.

This was better, right?

Right?

She sucked in a deep breath nodding slowly before she began to hold out both her hands and start the song she had heard Patty sing many times before.

"Eenie meenie minee moe, catch a t-tiger by it's t-toe, I-if he h-hollars let it g-go, eenie meenie minee moe…"

She hopes those are the right words, those are the words Patty had sang right? Oh please let those be the right words…

Unfortunately Crona was too busy worrying about whether or not those had been the right words that she paid no attention to the only now raised hand.

the group instantly got quiet and stared knowingly at Crona's raised right hand.

Oh no, she took back everything she had said before about truth and dare being equally bad…

Dare was worse! Oh, no! What was she supposed to do!

"I can't deal with being dared…" Crona sighed as she slowly turned to Black Star.

Maybe he would be kind enough to rethink daring her…

"Alright! Let's do this! Ready to get the ultimate dare from your god?"

Guess not.

"ok then…let's see.." Crona pulled her knees to her chest as she watched Black Star with a hard look on his face.

5 minutes later…

Wow, this is by far the longest amount of time Black Star has thought of, well anything really.

"Come on man, go easy on him…don't make him do something completely wacked out OK?"

Him? Crona turned her head up to look at whoever Soul was referring to. But all she found was everyone's eyes focused on her and Black Star. Oh…right…the gender issue. Apparently she wasn't the only one thinking about this topic, as a certain blue haired assassin perked up at this with an excited grin on his face.

"I GOT IT!" He exclaimed jumping into the air and swinging his arm towards Crona, finger pointing directly at her.

"Crona!….take of your clothes."

Wait, WHAT!

"Black Star what kind of dare is that!" Maka screamed from her position on the floor. "Crona don't you listen to him, he's crazy," she said sheepishly smiling at the frightened pink haired meister.

"Psh! The kind that let's everybody know which gender Crona is! Doy! And I thought you were supposed to be the smart one?" He chirped back happily.

"Black Star, this is hardly an appropriate dare, you cannot possibly expect her to disrobe in front of a group of mixed gender." Kid said while standing up, clearly aggravated.

"Man, this is Truth or Dare, you're not supposed to be appropriate, I got naked too and Maka was here! Besides, who said Crona was a she? He's totally a he! Soul 'coolly' said pointing at Crona.

Please don't start an argument, please don't start an argument, please don't start an argument….

" No way! She's a girl! Crona's too pretty to be a boy! HAHAHAHAHA!" Patty exclaimed giggling as she turned to Soul.

'_She thinks I'm pretty?' _Crona thought as a shy smile worked it's way across her face.

"Kid thinks so too! HAHAHAHAHA!" Patty continued to say, now rolling on the floor laughing.

Crona's face shot up a hundred degrees as the blush from earlier returned full force. Kid? Death the Kid? He thought _she_ was pretty?

"PATTY!" Kid screamed at the blonde, face a rosy pink.

"HAHAHAHA, SORRY KIDDO!"

"Ohohoho! Cool, now I see why your hoping Crona's a girl!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Well, I bet 10 dollars that Crona's a guy!" Liz said interrupting the screaming waving the money in the air.

How the heck did this game turn into a bet over which gender she was?

"Alright! So Crona's doing the dare? I'm totally betting it's a girl!" Black Star bellowed pumping his fist into the air.

"Wait, WHAT!" Crona exclaimed, she had not accepted the dare!

"Black Star don't call Crona an it! And you can't make Crona do the dare!" Maka said in a scolding tone.

Crona let out a deep breath of relief, thank you Maka….

"And for your information, 15 bucks says Crona's a boy!"

'_NO! NOT MAKA TOO!'_

"Stop betting on Crona's gender! This isn't fair to her at all!" Kid interjected sitting beside Crona, making her heart skip a beat. She whispered a soft thank you, before going back to ringing her hands.

"Oh yeah! And how much are you willing to bet that you're right and she's a girl!" Soul said getting in Kid's scowling face.

"I'm not betting! This dare is ridiculous! If you want to know Crona's gender, then just ask!"

"But shinigami-kun…I didn't pick truth…"

'_Me and my stupid mouth!' _she thought, mentally scolding herself.

"That's right! Crona didn't! Alright everyone, place your bets!" Liz said excitedly, now bouncing along side her sister.

" five dollars, Boy. I mean come on, with the amount of time he spends with Maka…."

"Soul for the last time it isn't like that!…And you can't make Crona do this bet! It's not fair to him.."

"20 dollars, Girl! HAHAHAHAHA! Kid and Crona sitting in a tree F-U-C-"

"PATTY!"

"Boy, no wait….Crona kind of looks like a girl…..wait, boyish voice….wait…."

"No Tsubaki! Bet with me that she's a girl! I mean, she's got to be a girl! I bet 12 bucks!"

"Ok then Black Star…g-girl, no! Wait,….yeah ok, girl."

"Boy, like I said, I'm betting 10 dollars."

'_This is ridiculous'_ Crona thought as she repeatedly thumped her head against the floor.

It took her a couple of minutes to notice that the sound of her thumping her head over and over on the floor had been the only sound for some time now. She froze, then gently lifted her head to look at what the heck everyone was being quite for.

If anyone had walked in at that moment, they would have thought that this was some kind of western stand off with the way Kid and the rest of the gang were glaring at each other.

"I'm not doing it." Kid said through gritted teeth, breaking up the nearly tangible silence.

"Come on Kid, we are going to do this with or without you….this way you at least get some cash after it's all over. Now how much are you willing to bet that Crona's a girl?" Liz Thompson taunted.

Crona was at the end of her rope here, they were so….definite. If crying kicking and screaming would have helped remove the dare off of her neck, Crona would have definitely done so by now.

But Crona knew, that right now, not even a car crashing into Kid's mansion could have gotten anyone to withdraw the dare.

" I'm betting no money, and there is no way that Crona is performing the dare." Kid turned to face Crona and gave her a determined look, "you don't have to do this," he assured her.

Despite the unfortunate fact that she did in fact have to do this, she smiled slightly and nodded her head. Kid was trying to be kind, and Crona would not let those smiles and encouraging words of his go to waste.

"Oh well…..Crona ok, you know the rules. A dare's a dare, so let's do this!" Liz asserted, happy to begin what would possibly be the most humiliating moment of Crona's life.

Oh no…..how was she supposed to deal with stripping in front of everyone and Kid…

She stood up and everyone stared at her, a few in shock that she was actually doing it, and others in anticipation.

Kid was staring at her too with a bright red blush painting his cheeks. Crona almost giggled and told him that his cheeks were perfectly symmetrical, but decided that any conversation between them now would only make the whole experience even worse for her. So much for having some kind of friendship with Kid, after this, she would have lost whatever shred of dignity she had left.

She let out a sigh before she reached for the hem of her black dress and almost began to peel it upwards.

Almost being the key word.

Before she even knew what had hit her she felt Kid's right arm shoot out and knock her off her feet only to be dragged towards him. His cheeks were still crimson as both his arms gripped her shoulders.

He turned to face the rest of the room.

"I didn't want to have to this in front of all of you, but you have left me no choice. I'll reveal to you all Crona's gender my way." After Kid finished speaking, he turned his head to her and said those three little words she had least expected him to say.

"Please forgive me."

Soft cushiony lips smash themselves onto her slightly parted mouth. A sudden feeling of shock engulfed her being as she mentally floundered around attempting to figure out what was going on. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at the now _extremely _close shinigami, his eyes were slid shut and his lips were moving softly against her.

A warm feeling burst through her chest and spread though out her body, making her skin tingle, she wasn't sure what was going on but she felt _good. _A kind of good that she had never felt before, this wasn't like eating sweets or playing basketball. It wasn't like getting compliments from Maka or Tsubaki. This feeling she was experiencing now wasn't like anything she had ever felt before, she gradually let her eyes close.

Kid's lips started to press a little harder against hers, and it took everything inside of Crona not to panic. She wasn't sure what she was doing, and she would be lying if she said that this wasn't scaring her a little, but for some reason she didn't want this feeling to end. She hesitantly began to mirror Kid's movements by pressing her lips against him and moving her lips as well .

He seemed to like this a lot, she heard him moan slightly before he began to press his mouth even harder against hers. The warm feeling intensified and her brain started getting a little hazy as Kid's hands ventured to her waist and he began to softly prod her mouth with his tongue…..

"ahum *cough*"

The prominent noise of a clearing throat effectively shut off whatever emotion had been beginning to take over Crona, she gasped slightly and began to pull away from Kid. She wasn't sure what it was that was going on…but she had caught Soul and Maka doing something similar to this once and they had hurriedly pulled away when they had become aware of Crona's presence. So she guessed that this was something you did only when you were alone…

Kid, on the other hand, had other plans. Growling, he wrapped his arms tightly around Crona and pressed his body flush against hers as his past innocent touches became something more. He had apparently mistaken her previous startled gasp as permission to enter her mouth…..

She felt shock as his tongue explored every nook and cranny of her mouth, swirling around a couple of times to touch her tongue. She timidly responded to his advances and pushed her tongue against his, earning yet another groan from the boy. Her eyes slid shut once again as a pleasurable buzz besieged her, loosening a breathy moan from her own throat.

"Wow, Kid. Didn't know you had it in yah…"

That got him to stop.

"I want to change my bet, a guy doesn't moan like _that…._jeez…" Soul said, visibly stunned by the show they had both just given them all.

She might have been embarrassed by the comments if Kid's eyes weren't currently locked with her own. He didn't seem very embarrassed either, actually, Kid seemed more dazed than anything. His sharp half lidded honey colored eyes bore into hers as they briefly drifted down to her lips and back up to her irises.

_Maybe this game isn't so bad after all…_

"She's a girl….I told you.." Kid gulped.

Oh man, there's no way that her blush was going to go down now with the way he was looking at her. Still, that was not the serious issue right now.

How the heck did Kid touching his lips to hers prove that she was a girl…?

"Ok…so is she going to do the dare now?" Black Star muttered for the first time in his life slightly serious.

Crona was not a particularly violent person(when she was sane anyways), but right now if there had been a sledge hammer around, she would have bashed his head in.

_What the hell Black Star! _

" WHAT THE HELL BLACKSTAR!" A voice shrieked at the top of their lungs.

All right! Somebody said it!

She almost turned to thank the person before she realized that everyone was looking directly at her completely stunned.

_Did I say that out loud?….._

"Awww….but how are we supposed to know your real gender if you don't do it! I'm betting 0.2 dollars on this!" Patty said in a somewhat whiny tone.

Oh gosh…..Kid's efforts were nice but apparently whatever he had just done hadn't been enough to stop everyone form making her undress..

"You betted 20 dollars Pat."

"Oh! Thanks big sis! HAHAHA! Your so smart!"

The world was slowly turning grey as the colors withered away. This wasn't great at all, this wasn't going to be fun to deal wit-

A familiar shooting pain burned her back as the infamous black dragon burst from her spine.

Ragnorak? Why had he decided to come out now? She didn't get much time to ponder this question before the swords nasally voice shoved her thoughts aside.

"GODDAMNIT! YOU BRATS ARE SO ANNOYING!YOU WANT TO SEE CRONA'S GENDER! FINE I'LL SHOW YOU!"

Ragnorak's round hands (if they could even be called that) reached down to the hem of her dress at lightning speed and…and…

She wishes that she could say that she stopped him before he could pull the dress above her hips like she always does.

She really does.

Seriously, it wasn't her fault that an extremely cute shinigami was sitting right next to her, still incredibly close!

_I mean come on!_

Sadly, the fact remained that she did not stop him in time.

For the hundredth time today the entire room was completely silent. And the dark onyx blush on Crona's cheeks had officially become permanent.

Maka and Liz's mouths had hit the floor in their shock at finally discovering Crona's actual gender. Black Star, Patty and Tsubaki weren't much better off with their wide open eyes and hair standing on end….

Soul had, naturally, gotten a serious nose bleed. And Kid….

Well Kid had unexpectedly gotten an even bigger nose bleed than Soul, the poor guy was on the floor right now gripping his nose in a futile attempt to stop the blood.

That's when common sense decided to kick in (not entirely sure why though, it had never really been present before….wait! Shut up! Nobody asked you!).

Crona shrieked in panic at her raised dress and began to furiously attempt to pull it down, Ragnorak laughing hysterically the whole time.

"Ragnorak cut it out! GAH! Quite it! Stop it, I don't know how to deal with everyone seeing me like this!" She cried.

"Oh stop crying you stupid brat! Fine I'm done gosh!" He released her dress somewhat reluctantly as Crona pulled it down in record time.

"Patty….your b-big sis was w-wrong…. I'll get you the 20 d-d-dollars as soon as I get home.." Liz stuttered turning to her wide eyed sister.

"I can't believe it…. I was actually right…." Black Star whispered in a monotone.

Crona buried her face in her hands in utter shame at having been exposed so publicly. Crona had always been very insecure about herself, and having Ragnorak put her body on display the way he did (and especially in front of Kid) caused the last remnants of her self esteem to shatter into a million pieces.

Have fun cleaning _that _up.

"Crona….you're a girl?…..why didn't you tell me? I mean I had always just assumed….I mean you never protested when I referred to you as him or he…" Maka questioned her softly, green eyes gentler than she had ever seen them.

Crona honestly didn't know what to do. The situation was pretty bad, and for once Maka's soothing tone wasn't doing much to make her feel any better.

She didn't look up, she didn't speak for several seconds. She was kind of busy feeling mortified at the moment.

"Ok, s-so w-what?" A slightly unsteady baritone voice announced.

She peered upwards at half of Kid's face, his left hand still had a firm grip of his nose.

"She's a girl, big deal, she's still Crona, no need to be so somber." Death the kid continued to say, obviously trying to take the attention off of the chagrined swordsman. A tiny smile crossed her features at this. Did this mean that he wasn't going to start avoiding her?

"Now let's stop playing this stupid game…..I need to get another rag to clean up this mess anyways." Kid said gesturing at the gore he and Soul had unleashed.

Gradually, the gang shook themselves out of their stupor and shot Crona apologetic looks for making her feel so awkward.

"a girl huh? That's pretty cool Crona….now I don't have to feel so awkward about calling you cute ay?" Soul reassured ruffling her hair as he stood next to her.

"C-Crona! want to come with me to get a rag?" Kid interrupted getting in between Soul and Crona, for whatever reason he sounded kind of nervous and…insecure? That was definitely new, the reaper usually sounded so confident when he wasn't throwing M.S.F's (major symmetry fits).

Crona noted quietly that this was the same possessive tone Ragnorak used whenever Kid stepped too close to her.

"Ok shinigami-kun…" She took his outstretched hand and stood up with him. He started walking her to the kitchen.

"Have fun you two." Soul blurted out after them, a grin plastered on his face making his razor sharp teeth visible.

She wasn't sure how walking to the kitchen would be a whole lot of fun, but Crona turned around and smiled at the scythe anyways. Kid only quickened his steps.

When they got to the rather large kitchen (seriously, that place was _huge_) Kid finally let go of her hand and began searching the cup boards for a rag.

The loss of warmth in her hand made her a little sad but…well, she supposed he was going to have to let go eventually.

'_Don't deal with that now…deal with that later, Shinigami-kun needs you to help him get another rag right now.' _

Crona did her best to keep from sighing as she crouched down to look through one of the cupboards. There wasn't much in there actually, only two first aid kits placed symmetrically upright, she also found a pencil: but that was it, no rags.

"Crona….I would like to apologize properly for what I did earlier.." Kid's voice was soft and pleading as he stopped his search in one of the cup boards. He wasn't looking at her though.

"It's just. I wasn't sure of what else to do. Y-you seemed distressed and, w-well, no that's no excuse. I took advantage of you, it was wrong an-" She cut him of there.

"You don't have to apologize. I know you were just trying to h-hep!" She shouted out. She blushed at the involuntary increase in volume, but refused to look away from the boy. Still he wasn't looking at her, was he embarrassed for what he had done? Or was he just not looking at her for what Ragnorak did?

She really hoped that wasn't the reason, was she really that unattractive?

"Besides….it was nice…" She mumbled slightly looking down at her lap. She still wasn't quite sure what it was that they had done, but the feeling that it was something personal still remained.

"W-what?" He was looking at her now, his cheeks were still pretty red.

"W-what you did….it felt n-nice…" Oh boy, back to stuttering again….

Death the Kid got down from the counter and slowly started making his way towards her. He kneeled in front of her and lifted up her head so that she wasn't peeking through her bangs.

"You…liked it?" He said starring directly into her eyes.

Those eyes again…they didn't have that hard look in them that Crona had become accustomed to seeing when he addressed the rest of the group, those eyes were never hard when looking at her….

She wasn't sure how it happened but she managed to make the words come out, maybe her heart had a mouth too..

"Y-yes…a l-lot. T-thank y-you." She could barely hear herself talk, his eyes had her full attention.

"Crona.. may I…k-kiss you again." His head was getting a little closer now as his eyes repeated the same half lidded stare they had taken on a while ago. It occurred to her that maybe what he had done with her earlier was called a 'kiss'. The word sure sounded familiar.

"O-ok.." his face was only a few inches away now.

She wasn't sure how to deal with physical contact, but maybe some physical contact from Kid was ok…..

"Shinigami-kun…" She whispered, centimeters away from her second kiss.

"Call me Kid.." he chuckled briefly and his lips were on hers.

She's not at all pleased with Ragnorak at the present moment. And the uncomfortable feeling she got when standing around the group is still present and will most likely remain for the next few days. But right now she decides, it doesn't really matter. Her embarrassment, and fear are washed away as her mouth melds with the young reaper's, for the moment it is just the two of them, and you know what?

She is perfectly content to deal with that.

* * *

**If you press the blue review button at the bottom of the page, you'll live forever…..**

**You know, unless you get run over by a car. Then, yeah, you'll totally die. **


	2. Of Stripes and Inspiration

**Chapter 2: Of Stripes and Inspiration**

**Summary: She'd never understand his displeasure with the stripes atop his head she found so perfect. **

**A/N: This story wasn't really suppose to have a second chapter, but well...here you go. Feel free to either view this as a preface to "The Ultimate Dare," or a completely unrelated one-shot I decided to write in the middle of the night. Whichever works best. Anyways, I would like to thank Ms. Issipi for being a beta reader for this story! I'm not entirely sure how my grammar would have ended up without her!**

* * *

It was a day like any other day really.

The sun was laughing in its usual daunting way, lemony flares of heat radiating onto the (apparently) symmetrical school of Shibusen. Washing over its technicians and weapons with a withering smile through the open panels Crona had come to know as 'windows.' Maka sat to her left, fervently taking notes on everything Stein said, hanging onto his every word as if it were a popular film packed with action and suspense. Her partner Soul lay sprawled across the desk lethargically, and doing a very nice job of cleaning the table Crona might add. Meanwhile Crona sat at her desk, pen in hand adding line after line on her college ruled piece of paper, though despite what her fellow classmates might think, she wasn't taking notes. Poetry was more along the lines of what she was scribbling.

_Of what_, might you inquire? Well the better question would be of whom. Death the Kid sat two rows above her, black hair draped over his eyes as he meticulously arranged his notebook and pencils on the smooth desk before him, his eyes were scrunched into a rough scowl marring his once blank complexion into that of a pouting three year old. Which, in Crona's opinion, couldn't have been an even more perfect subject to write about.

_In daylight shone two golden eyes,_

_encased in ivory and Charcoal dyes._

Crona allowed a rare smile to form on her lips; Maka had been assisting her in increasing her vocabulary lately. And the results, to her surprise, had been immediate. Maybe she isn't as stupid as Ragnarok says.

_A hardened look and telltale sighs._

_He seeks to fix and rectifies._

Rectify: To correct, to make something right.

That had been another of her words this week, it was a fun word to say, and the young Makenshi enjoyed using the verb whenever she could. Quickly glancing behind her she spotted the young shinigami once again in his (surprisingly sophisticated looking) hunched over form. She observed the source of her brief enjoyment with a stoic face; somehow a lot of her poetry had been centered around him lately.

_Pens and pencils. Erase, erase._

_Imbalance, he cannot take….._

Her poetry was straying from the pattern, but she didn't care. Honestly, as long as it expressed her feelings and sounded nice while doing it, she could care less if it was properly structured or not. 'Shinigami-kun would have cared.' She thought ruefully, her hand gripped the pencil a little harder, and she hunched over a little more. Yes, he definitely would have cared.

_Angel like stripes, around they lace_

_But beauty, he says, is not the case._

_Treacherous lines, he would jeer_

_For the entire world to hear._

Crona raised her head up once more and craned her neck slightly to the side, peering behind her with dark big blue eyes, as if expecting Kid to smile at her for managing to salvage the rhyme scheme of her poetry. What she was met with however was much more implausible.

_And in the end a plain girl stood_

_His cries and shouts she understood_

_Though with his shouts, she didn't agree_

The teenaged shinigami stared back at her with a somber expression. Immediately, Crona's face grayed lightly as she rashly turned back around, startled features looking up at Professor Stein once more. Her embarrassment was nearly palpable, he wasn't supposed to notice.

…..

Why wasn't he supposed to notice again?

_For in her eyes, he was as perfect as can be._

Her hand subconsciously finished scribbling out the last line as Crona pointedly directed her attention to the front of the class for the remainder of the period. She did not turn back around again.

"In other words, it is best to make incisions in the Philippine eagle's left airflow wing first before moving on to the….."

She tried to pay attention to the lesson, she really did, but sadly the distraction could not be achieved. So in the end, she settled for just pretending to pay attention, pretending to be interested in the lesson at hand. She decided to just pretend that the written on piece of parchment before her was of nobody, they were just empty words about an empty subject. Crona could deal with forgetting, and not thinking, and just doing something else. After all, she had been doing that all her life. She shoved the event she could not deal with out of her memory and pretended to forget.

She clipped Stein's words onto the frontal lobe of her brain, and soaked them into the deep recesses of her mind as best she could until the flame of her anxiety and mortification was smothered; just grounded it with the heel of her foot over, and over, and over again until it didn't exist.

The young technician concentrated so hard on just forgetting, that she did not take notice of the amber eyes that remained glued to her form for the remainder of the class, the hands that discontinued rearranging notebooks and pencils symmetrically in favor of a more interesting activity: watching her.

In fact, her deliberate forgetfulness was so intense and vehement that when class was over and she raced out of the classroom, she did not notice when the slip of poetry escaped the confines of her folder and gently fluttered onto the floor.

Or the pale calloused hands that picked it up.

* * *

Elegant footwear struck the floor over and over again in a rhythmic fashion as a thin agile figure brusquely walked out of the classroom, broken pencils in hand…..they were not sufficiently symmetrical. Kid examined the floor wistfully as his memory from earlier stirred inside his mind, piquing his attention. That swordsman's girl, Crona, she had been observing again. This in all actuality wasn't anything out of the ordinary that was just the kind of person she was: She watched, she waited, and listened.

No, the point was she had been looking his way.

(Truthfully, the young reaper still isn't quite sure why he assumes her gender to be female, but somehow it seems…right.)

Kid slowed his pace as he reached the opening of Shibusen, a neatly folded piece of parchment burning a hole in his pocket. His fingers reached to discreetly slip it out, lest the sword meister become aware of her missing item. Gently unfolding it, Kid allowed his eyes one lingering glance at Crona's handwriting. Somehow he felt that this was an unjustified intrusion of privacy. He did his best to quell those feelings by telling himself that as the Grim Reaper's son, it was his job to inspect the newcomers of the school… to make sure they weren't doing any wrong. Still, his attempts at justifying his actions were short lived as his eyes landed on the fourteen lined poem before him. He read through it quickly to see the subject and content of the poem, and froze when he discovered the reason Crona had been looking at him so closely in class today. Though what stole his breath away was not the fact that she had been writing about him, it wasn't even that it had been written in sonnet form no it was the last line.

'For in her eyes he was as perfect as can be'

Over and over again, his eyes trailed across the bends and curves of the eleven lettered sentence. Traced the individual words on the piece of paper in his mind so often in fact, it was in less than five seconds that it was engraved permanently in his memory.

'In her eyes….'

Crona, was this truly how she viewed him?

"Perfect…" He mumbled the word as if it were a forbidden dream, the ultimate Christmas wish that had never been granted. Perfect. No one had ever referred to him as perfect before. A pen clicked with resolution as the Shinigami boy took out a small piece of paper and set to work writing a message for a certain witch's daughter, currently residing in the dungeons down below.

* * *

Crona slid down the wall in her small room, thin arms tightly wrapped around her long lean legs; she pressed herself tightly against Mr. Corner asylum style. As usual, Crona decided to spend the remainder of the day coming up with rhymes that sounded interesting, and wondered what the rest of the students in the school were doing. What her….friends were up to.

It had been two months, yet the word still sounded foreign and tasted like the alien barren deserts of Mars. Sometimes Crona wonders how long this 'friendship' will last, she wishes with all her heart that it will last as long as the ivory pillars of Greece she's read so much about with Maka, even if she still isn't quite sure how to deal with it.

_'Swish.'_

Startled, Crona looks up from her knees and snaps towards the metallic door. A small slip of paper has been slipped underneath. Crona hesitantly crawls over to the new object, and ever so gently, lifts it to her eye level.

_"Dear Crona,_

_"If convenient, please come meet with me at the front of the DWMA at precisely 8:00 PM, I would very much like to speak with you."_

The words have been neatly printed in Times New Roman font, traces of rich black ink decorating the paper in the most prestigious and orderly way she has ever seen.

'_Sincerely…'_

She doesn't even have to read the sender's name to know it is Death the Kid.

* * *

Wringing her hands nervously, Crona trudges to the front of the school.

"Oh man, oh man, what do I do, what do I do.." She murmurs it over and over again, as if repeating the mantra like phrase will make the coming encounter with the shinigami any easier.

_'Oh…I knew I shouldn't have been looking at him in class today! He's probably mad….oh man he's probably really, really mad! Oh what do I do, what do I do…'_

Her mental rambling went on for a good four minutes, her feet still advancing her to the front of the school 'death row' style. Yes she was that nervous. She's often wondered how she can speak so clearly in her mind, yet whenever she attempts to utter a word her vocal chords tie in knots as tight as…as…well Kid's bow tie at that one Christmas party…

_'Oh no, Kid!'_ Oh dear, she'd gotten side tracked, she should be preparing! Trying to figure out a way to undo the mistake she's committed, trying to figure out how to get out of this! So, of course Crona goes on auto pilot, of course she locks herself into her mind the way Medusa had locked her up in her room all those year. -Of course she slams into the back of a certain stripe haired boy with a love for symmetry.

"Oof!"

"O-oh! I a-am so s-sorry! I- KID!"

Death the Kid stares at her wide eyed for a few seconds as he holds her up by the shoulders, a confused look on his face. But as quickly as it came, his expression is wiped clean off; the stoic expression is back in place. Crona engages in a staring contest with him for a full minute after that, terrified blush prominent, and the worry that Ragnarok might come out any second and catch her in this position taking a back seat to the number one fear dominating her mind: _'On a scale to 1 to 10, how big is Kid's temper?'_

It is only when the young man coughs and pulls her up right that she manages to break free of her stupor.

"W-well, I-I'm here…" It was a stupid thing to say; of course he knew she was here, he isn't blind.

Luckily Kid doesn't' seem to notice. Instead he takes her hand in his two callused ringed fingers and lightly leads her over to the bench adjacent to them. Well, the awkward silence certainly is not going to let up now is it? Crona sits down curiously, eyes never leaving Death the Kid – or rather his black and white striped head, for some reason unknown to her he seemed to be playing the avoiding eye contact game - or his hands, the wary prick digging into the back of her neck that he might be planning to harm her painfully prominent.

'_I-I can't deal with this, he's going t-to try to h-hurt me! Or k-kill me, o-o-o-r-r'_ Delightful, now she was stuttering in her mind as well.

"I noticed you looking at me in class today." Kid's voice is stark and direct, and Crona can't help but compare his voice to a frothy Popsicle stick – the chill is equally frightening.

_'That's right Kid. Get right to the point,'_ Crona relents. She is not looking at him now, it's her turn to play the avoiding eyes game.

"I'm sorry." She says, not thinking at all.

"Sorry?" Kid asks, sounding genuinely surprised, of course not enough that Crona actually noticed.

"I…I-I…oh man, I can't deal with confrontations."

"Confrontations: A face-to-face meeting or encounter, especially a challenging or hostile one." N-not that Crona didn't already know that….lately she's been spouting out definitions whenever she got nervous.

Kid stares at her for a while before nodding his head approvingly. "Very good." He says

"Oh what the hell! He can read minds now!?"

"No…you just said the definition of Confrontation aloud.." Kid said, eyeing her curiously.

"…."

"Crona?"

"…."

"Note to self when nervous: Shut the fuck up."

"Crona, that's hardly appropriate language."

"DAMN IT!"

Kid openly stares at her for a long time; Crona's 85% certain that he is going to bust a cap in her backside any minute now. Either that or he is going to walk away at her rudeness. She's not sure which one is worse.

Kid doesn't do either of those things. Instead he smiles slightly, and Crona knows that he is struggling not to laugh. But just as soon as it came, it is over. Kid openly stares at her again. She represses the urge to shudder.

"Do you always do this?" Somehow Crona realized that he wasn't referring to her accidentally voicing her opinions.

"I-No! I mean… I didn't mean to, it's just that…"

"It's just that what?" Kid seems oddly eager to hear her answer.

"I….y-you were i-interesting…I just wanted to l-look at you…"

She hadn't been doing anything wrong, right? She was just staring. She wasn't hurting him. So then why did she feel so nervous?

"Look at me….." Kid repeats slowly.

She keeps her head down. That's what animals do in the face of predators' right? Make themselves as small as possible so that they can disappear? She wouldn't mind having a corner to sit in right about now.

"It's fine, you know. This isn't an issue at all." Kid says in his odd strict yet soft voice.

'He isn't angry?' She thinks, the surprise nearly making her stagger.

"No, I am not upset with you." Either he is reading her mind again, or she accidentally said that out loud.

"I just wanted to say….you are a very talented writer."

What?

Smiling openly now, Kid reaches out and gently cups her hands in his. Then, he turns around and leaves without another word. Crona sits there, alone, for a while longer. Relief floods her chest cavity at not being in trouble. Standing steadily, the sword meister begins to gradually make her way back to her chambers.

'Crish!'

A prominent crinkling sound reaches her ears, Crona looks down immediately. Her right hand flies up to her face at the piece of parchment that had been expertly sneaked into her hand. It's the poem she had written about Death the Kid…

Suddenly it all makes sense. He read her poem, which is why he had asked to meet her. She feels as though the proper response would be to panic. He did read her private poem after all. Before she gets a chance to though, she flips the paper over. Anything to dispel such shocking emotion. She really can't deal with it right now…

Instead of blank paper though, she finds neat handwriting stamped across the page. It's from Death the Kid. She hurriedly reads it.

_Asymmetrical as she may be,_

_And though symmetry is key,_

_He cannot see any error_

_With allowing himself the pleasure_

_Of looking upon her face._

_Her hair seems unusually beautiful in this case._

_And if his cries and rants were to drive everyone else away,_

_She would be the only one he would beg to stay._

_Because even if she's somber and sad,_

_Believing herself to be unworthy or mad,_

_He knows her to be so much more, because he can see_

_That the young swords meister is as perfect as can be._

A watery smile crosses her face as her eyes trail over the shinigami's heartfelt words. Never in a million years would she have expected such a response from the boy who is meant to hate her – the daughter of a witch. And yet, somehow, she is glad for the response; glad for the carefully written note that he had obviously spent a great deal of time writing. Nobody, not even Lord Death's son, can write in New Times Roman and not spend a significant amount of time. Crona lets her left palm fall away from her right and nestle itself on her breast; Kid's words echoing slightly in the currently delighted chambers of her mind. Ever the curious young witch, she restlessly attempts to pinpoint the feeling surging through her chest.

Her feet take soundless strides back to the school, her hand remaining glued to her chest as her heart dances an odd tune it had never danced before. It is only a few minutes before she reaches her chambers that Crona realizes the alien emotion coiling around her very soul: It is unadulterated joy.

* * *

The young meisters of Shibusen nervously bustle into the large classroom as the threat of being late to Stein's class looms over their heads. Maka drags Soul along the corridors at full speed - while ignoring Soul's complaints of course- earnestly trying to get to class on time. She had yet to be late to any of her classes, and she preferred it remained that way thank you very much.

Luckily, the duo manages to crash land in class just in time, the familiar bong of the bell ringing in the distance; hurriedly taking her seat, Maka twirls her thumbs in anticipation of the lesson yet to come. Soul carelessly takes his seat next to his partner –earning a glare from said partner on account of his unworried attitude- and lazily waves at Black Star on the other side of the room. The audacious ninja waves back excitedly, tongue slightly sticking out of his mouth as per usual, and weapon sheepishly ducking her head at his antics. Everything is as it should be, nothing is out of place.

And yet, there is an odd mixture in the room, something that had not been there before; though Soul does not possess the ability to read soul wave lengths, even he cannot deny the odd tone of the room. It is not until nearly an hour has passed however that anyone is able to detect the origins of said mood.

It is completely by accident that Tsubaki happens to glance down just in time to notice the pink haired meister looking up discreetly at a row above hers. Curious, Tsubaki looks up to find the source of Crona's attention, and she is instantly shocked to find Death the Kid looking right back. Tsubaki notices his change in facial expression right away; inwardly gasping at the carefree smile and affectionate gaze, the weapon cocks her head back towards the notes lying right in front of her. She does her best to focus on the task set before her, but she cannot help but smile just the tiniest bit at the possibilities swarming in her mind.

It is probably nothing; she scolds herself, probably just friendship. But still, the thought that it is something a little deeper remains in the back of her mind. Not even Maka can deny the new familiarity between the two. Weeks later Soul and Maka would look at the two in perplexed silence and continue to wonder what it was that had changed.

So it was like this that wherever the two were, the odd new feeling and connectivity was always to be found. Neither meister ever outright stated the new bond that had formed between them, but they also did not deny it. A seed had been planted where it had not been before. So it was like this that Kid found himself gazing at Crona from the corner of his eye each and every class period, while pretending to take notes of course. And it is like this that Crona continued to write poetry of her new found 'friend' – for she did not know what else to call him- and even occasionally looked back. But for now, Kid and Crona locked gazes with one another, secret smiles ensuing between the two; Thoughts of their friends' reactions far from their thoughts as cerulean met amber in a silent acknowledgment of understanding.

They looked a long time.

* * *

**Thank you all for all the lovely reviews, they were truly encouraging**


End file.
